Intervention
by Valvert
Summary: Volkner has been suicidal and in love with Flint for a long time, and finally goes through with his plans to kill himself in Flint's absence. Flint shows up at the scene, to find Volkner lying on the floor, unmoving. A tragic tale of love and depression. (Rated T for suicide, alcoholism, slight language, and homosexuality)


Intervention (Ignitionshipping)

_Nothing matters anymore._

Volkner, the Sunyshore City gym leader, swallowed the last pill in the bottle with a gulp of firey whiskey. His stomach churned and he felt his brain become fuzzy. A whole bottle of pills and half a bottle of whiskey should do the trick.

Volkner was done living. Long gone were the days when he was known as "The Shining, Shocking Star." His Pokemon languished away in their Pokeballs, preserved in the previous state he'd used them in. That must have been years ago. He no longer cared to battle, and he no longer cared to live.

The pills were really kicking in now.

Volkner let his eyelids droop, hoping he could fall asleep before he felt his insides begin to liquefy and fail on themselves. Drunk, he began to softly sing a song to himself, something about a Heart Shaped Box. The Nirvana song managed to calm him down some, although he was still rocking back and forth, arms around himself, shivering.

This was it, he would die alone. The eager, hopeful trainers would get a real battle when they visited the Sunyshore Gym, not a box full of badges left by an apathetic gym leader whose spark had long since faded.

He figured he'd write a quick note, before he was gone.

Agonizingly, he managed to stand up, locate a pen and paper in the top of the Sunyshore Lighthouse where he spent most of his time, and began to compose a note.

He could barely hold the pen right and he was unsure of what he was saying. It went a little something like this:

To whoever is reading this:

For far too long, I'm sure you've noticed that I no longer have it in me to care anymore. My only regret is that in the morning, someone will come into this lighthouse and find my body. My sick, tired, weak, emaciated form. I have no regrets in my life, and at the same time I regret everything I've ever done. My career as a gym leader, the only thing I wanted to be since a child, has failed. My Pokemon are surely dead by now, having been trapped inside Pokeballs for years. If whoever finds this cares to take a look, go ahead. If they are somehow still alive, then release them.

Now to the one person I actually care about. Flint. You have always managed to ignite some sort of reasoning inside me. But you've been gone with the Elite Four for far too long, and your absence has taken its toll. Now whatever want to live I had was gone, and the fire you lit inside my heart has gone out. I just want to tell you tha—-

The note ended there, because Volkner had passed out. Death was sure to come, it was only a matter of, how long?

_Flint's POV_

Elite Four duties done for the night, I had a feeling I needed to visit Sunyshore City. It wasn't very far away, and besides, my friend Volkner was there. I wondered how he was doing. Maybe in the time that I was gone he managed to get over his depression. Most of it was my fault, anyway.

What he told some people was that since he was such a strong gym leader, no trainer had ever defeated him before. That was true. He said he'd lost his will to battle. That was it. He no longer wanted to be a gym leader, and he spent his time hidden away up in the Sunyshore Lighthouse. It was his duty to maintain it, and he often locked himself up and wouldn't accept any visitors.

That's not the whole story though.

One day, Volkner confessed to me that he loved me. He wanted to be with me, he said. His blue eyes twinkled, hopeful. He'd just won his first battle as a gym leader, and he was confident in himself. Confident in our friendship. His childhood hadn't been the best, but things seemed to get better once he and I became better friends. He began to see beauty in the world instead of the cold, unforgiving streets he had grown up knowing.

I had to deny him.

It wasn't because I didn't love him—oh no, far from it. The true reasoning for my answer was that I knew I wasn't good enough for him. I hadn't yet been recruited for the Elite Four, and I was just some guy with ugly red hair who happened to be best friends with the strongest leader in the Sinnoh region. I knew that one day, he'd find better. He'd find a girl, maybe. I knew that Jasmine from the Johto region had visited him before, and her eyes never left him. She played shy, but I saw something in her that scared me. Anyway, I had to save myself from all the pain that would come with the inevitable break up, so I said no.

It was at that moment that I watched the spark leave his eyes. I tried to give him a hug, but he pushed me away.

From that moment on, he looked sadder and sadder every day. I would still hang out with him. Train Pokemon together, try to cheer him up some. But it never helped. Eventually, the emotion began to leave his voice, and he quit his duties as a gym leader. He began locking himself up in the Sunyshore lighthouse, devastated. I hated seeing him like this, hated knowing it was my fault. I tried to set him up with several interested men and women, but he wouldn't give them a glance. I then knew that I had to leave him alone. So when Cynthia, Sinnoh's champion trainer, called and asked me to join the prestigious Elite Four, I accepted.

I told Volkner goodbye, but he wouldn't even look at me. I walked in front of him and hugged him hoping he'd push me off or punch me, or anything. But he just sat there, stiff, uncaring.

It broke my heart.

So I began channeling my pain and self hatred into battling. I became stronger, nearly unbeatable by any trainer. That was a year ago, and tonight, I feel the need to visit Volkner. I know I probably shouldn't, but something tells me I HAVE to. Instinct is usually best.

I contemplated that past as I made my way to the city. It was only 9 PM, and the lighthouse wasn't lit up. The city was eerily quiet, and foggy. I had a hard time getting myself there, nerves getting the best of me. I saw ghostly shapes in the swirling mist, beckoning to me, trying to distract me from getting where I needed to go. I had no idea where Volkner could be, though my first guess was the lighthouse. The fact that it wasn't lit up worried me.

I finally made it up the slippery stairs leading to its entrance. I pushed open the metal door, which creaked on its hinges as it opened. Usually, it would've been locked. Since it wasn't, Volkner was probably here, up on the higher level.

I walked around to the elevator and pushed the button, but nothing happened. The electricity wasn't working. That was why the whole city was dark. Maybe Volkner wasn't here after all, but I wasn't done searching.

I had to take the stairs to get to the next level, and when I reached the top, the undeniable stink of alcohol hit me. Had someone broken into the lighthouse for the purposes of partying? That must've been it. Volkner wasn't one to drink, ever. Even in his deepest fits of depression, he'd never touched a bottle. If kids were partying though, wouldn't there have been noise, and blasting music? I supposed not, with the electricity not working and all. A faint flicker came from underneath the door, so I turned that handle, curious.

It didn't open.

Locked.

"Volkner?" I called. "It's Flint. Open up!"

No answer.

"Volkner!" I yelled again, a little louder. He always opened the door for me, or, in rare cases, told me to go away. But until that last day, he'd never ever ignored me.

"VOLKNER! Open up or I swear I'll bust this door down!" I was worried. If it was kids partying, surely they would've opened the door by now.

"Alright then! Infernape! Flareon! Come on out and melt a hole in this door!" I was trying to scare Volkner into opening it, but there was no response. So I actually sent the Pokemon out, and commanded them to melt the steel door right off of its hinges.

It took them about a half hour to get the door glowing hot, while I paced the hallway, far enough that the fire wouldn't hurt me. My worries increased, wondering what was going on. There was a possibility, of course, that no one was in there at all. In such a case, I would feel like a fool. So while my Pokemon melted the door, I ran down the steps of the lighthouse and did a quick search of all the places I remembered Volkner to frequent. His house. The gym. The Sunyshore tower. The café. He was not in any of those places, so I returned to the lighthouse, out of breath. I was just in time to see the door melt into the ground, so I returned my Pokemon. I then sent out Rapidash to carry me safely over the glowing mass on the ground.

The smell of alcohol became overwhelmingly powerful as I entered the room. After getting over the heated steel, I returned Rapidash to its Pokeball and walked to the seat where I knew Volkner used to sit. I sent out my Flareon and used its burning mane and tail as a torch.

There was a piece of paper on the seat. It read:

To whoever is reading this:

For far too long, I'm sure you've noticed that I no longer have it in me to care anymore. My only regret is that in the morning, someone will come into this lighthouse and find my body. My sick, tired, weak, emaciated form. I have no regrets in my life, and at the same time I regret everything I've ever done. My career as a gym leader, the only thing I wanted to be since a child, has failed. My Pokemon are surely dead by now, having been trapped inside Pokeballs for years. If whoever finds this cares to take a look, go ahead. If they are somehow still alive, then release them.

Now to the one person I actually care about. Flint. You have always managed to ignite some sort of reasoning inside me. But you've been gone with the Elite Four for far too long, and your absence has taken its toll. Now whatever want to live I had was gone, and the fire you lit inside my heart has gone out. I just want to tell you tha—-

Next to it was an empty bottle of whiskey, whatever contents were left having spilled onto the concrete floor.

And next to that puddle of foul drink was Volkner, laying on the floor, eyes closed.

Barely breathing.

"VOLKNER!" I shook him. "DAMN YOU, GET UP!"

No response. He was out cold. An empty pill bottle rolled out of his pocket and fell with a small splash into the pool of alcohol. I panicked. I grabbed the pill bottle, the empty bottle of whiskey, his note, and returned Flareon to its Pokeball. I then called out Rapidash and, holding Volkner's weight in my arms, climbed onto it. It got us over the now cooling, but by no means safe, mass on the floor, and outside.

In the frigid night air, I slapped Volkner across the face, hoping to get him up. His eyelashes flickered, illuminated by Rapidash's mane. He opened his blue eyes a crack and began to gag. Before I knew what was happening, he vomited on the ground and was out again.

"Rapidash! Take us to the hospital! As fast as you can possibly go!" At 200 mph, it was nearly impossible to hang on. But somehow I did it, clutching Volkner against me like my life depended on it. Mine didn't, but his did.

Within five minutes we'd arrived at the hospital. I let Rapidash slow down to a trot, and it carried us through the doors and up to the front desk, which was luckily not busy. The lady who worked there asked me to get off of Rapidash and return it to its Pokeball, which I did—but only after she saw Volkner and took him to the Emergency Room.

I waited for a long time, wondering what Volkner had done this for. It was a suicide attempt. Was it because of me? If so, I'd never be able to forgive myself.

There was a "No Pokemon please" sign in the lobby, so I sat alone and stared at the clock. What felt like a year was only fifteen minutes before the front desk lady returned to question me. I told her how I'd burned down the lighthouse door, found Volkner, and handed her the two empty bottles and his suicide note. She looked over them carefully then brought them, and me, back into the ER's waiting room. She told me to wait there while she brought the three items to the doctor to be looked at.

I buried my face in my hands, willing myself not to cry. It happened anyway. I felt ashamed. Here I was, a full grown man, a member of the Elite Four for Arceus's sake, crying publicly in the hospital lobby. I got a few glances from other people who were waiting, but as hard as I tried to stop the tears, they wouldn't cooperate.

I must've fallen asleep, because I felt myself being shaken awake by the front desk lady. It was around 3:00 AM, and she told me that Volkner would live. They'd had to put tubes in his lungs—a procedure I opted not to hear about—and put an IV into his veins. Eventually he'd gained consciousness, and asked where he was. "We told him he was in the hospital and that he needed to stay calm. Try to get some sleep. He asked if you were here and said that if you were, he wanted to see you."

I stood up. "Would I be allowed to visit him?"

The lady nodded. "You can, but just to warn you, it's not a pretty sight."

She led me through several corridors and a couple rooms until I was at Volkner's bedside. He looked like a wreck. His eyelids were swollen, and it was obvious he'd been crying. He still smelled of alcohol, but it was the kind they used in hospitals to sterilize instruments. He was hooked up to various machines and tubes, and never in my life had I seen anyone look so fragile, or so pitiful.

"Volkner." I managed to say.

"Flint."

His voice was so, so weak. I had to will myself not to start crying all over again.

I stepped closer and took his hand, and he let me hold it. Either that or he was too weak to resist. Whichever way it was, I held it against my chest, against my heart, and just sat. There was nothing to be said. I already knew it all, and I didn't want to exhaust him. I saw that he was crying again, so I leaned over and brushed the teardrops away since he wouldn't be able to.

"Thank you, Flint. For everything."

The words were barely above a whisper, and yet I could tell it was his way of apologizing. I wished at that moment to hold him tight, smooth the messy golden hair away from his face, and admit to him that I loved him. I always had. I still did.

_Volkner's POV_

I saw something in Flint's gaze that I'd never seen before, or maybe I just hadn't noticed it. Still, when he held my hand against his rapidly beating heart, something inside me changed. I felt horrible for the attempt on my life. I should've just accepted friendship with Flint, if that was what made him happy. But why couldn't _I _be happy?

Ironically, in this moment I felt… Well, not exactly happy, but more at peace than I'd felt since he left for the Elite Four. Maybe it was just his presence, though that should've been negated by the fact that I was in a hospital bed hooked up to several machines with tubes down my lungs.

He reached over again and brushed the hair away from my face, an action for which I was grateful. His hand was smooth, caressing, and gentle. And it may have lingered there for longer than was needed. Not that I minded. Not at all.

He moved his hand down to rest on my chest, and I hoped to Arceus he didn't feel my heartbeat speed up. He must have felt something though, because when I opened my eyes he was crying. "Oh, Volkner…" he said.

"Mmm?"

"I wish you'd known."

And he poured out a story about how he loved me, and why he'd left for the Elite Four, and how badly it had shocked him, hurt him, numbed him, to come back only to find me lying on the ground, half dead. By the end of it I was crying too. Again. For what must have been the hundredth time that day.

"I still love you, Flint." I choked out.

"I know." He replied, his grey eyes looking into mine.

_Flint's POV_

I told Volkner the whole story. I told him everything. I told him that I loved him. When I looked into his eyes, I saw that old spark flicker back. It didn't last long, but it was there. Maybe I could still save him. It would take awhile, but I knew I could do it.

I have a fire in my heart, and if electricity gets hot enough, it too, can start a blaze.

So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I'm going to fix him.

END


End file.
